An RD is the way to be!

Can I get a what-what from all the Registered Dietitians and RD’s-to-be out there?

I have received a lot of emails from readers wanting to know more about becoming a dietitian and the job outlook for dietitians (which are great questions, by the way!). I figured what better place to pimp my profession other than my nutrition blog?

First things first, the correct spelling is, in fact, dietitian…not dietician. I personally don’t get worked up over this minor detail, but many RD’s do 😉 Another thing – there IS a difference between “dietitians” and “nutritionists”. Basically, dietitians have the education and credentialing to practice in dietetics, while anyone can be considered a nutritionist. Most states require licensing for their dietitians and thus the title “Licensed Nutritionist” (LN) or “Licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist” (LDN) is often used. In Oklahoma, “Licensed Dietitian” is the title assigned to licensed dietitians.

So, what does one need to do in order to become a dietitian? Several things.

Obtain a bachelor’s degree from a CADE-accredited nutrition/dietetics program

Complete a CADE-approved dietetic internship (ranging between 6 and 12 months, on average)

Pass a national examination administered by the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR)

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, average employment growth is projected for dietitians. While that doesn’t sound impressive, it’s great news! The job outlook rate is anticipated to increase by 9% during the 2008-2018 projection decade. This is sound information in support of the continued growth and demand of dietetics and dietitians in the US.

And days like yesterday make being a dietitian one of the most rewarding jobs. I met a patient this fall that had just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He was distraught, absolutely torn-up over his diagnosis. I met with him a week later after he had time to digest the news, and he begrudgingly listened with open ears to the information and insight I provided. We created a diabetic meal plan for him. Three months later, he’s looking to get off his ONE Biguanide drug. WOW! And his lipids? Astonishing! He’s LDL, triglycerides, and total cholesterol were elevated 3 months ago, and yesterday his labs all fell within reference range. I had to bite.

“So, what was the biggest change you’ve made since we met back in October?”

His response: “Vegetables and exercise.”

There is a God. 😉

*Patient details changed for confidentiality and HIPPA compliance.

The sweet Stef over at More To Life Than Lettuce (what an awesome blog name, by the way!) awarded me the Happy 101 award! Thank you, Stef! <3 The instructions are to: list 10 things that make me happy, do at least one of them today (I’ll highlight the ones I did!), and pass it along to 10 bloggies. So, here we are…

Lily (probably not all that shocking to “Prevention Regulars”!)

Looking at wedding pictures

King size beds laden with thick, down comforters

A kick-butt run where you feel like you could run forever and ever

Waking up and knowing that you have NOTHING you need to accomplish that day

Cuddling with my husband (cliche, but true!)

Cooking, eat, restaurants, and all things food-related

Helping others reach their health and nutrition goals

Having a clean house (so…one might think it’d BE clean, right? Wrong!)

Thanks for the great info! I’m a 3rd year in the Dietetics program at UW-Madison. I will be graduating in 2 years (5 total) because I am also majoring in Spanish. Not only do I love the language, but I hope there is a niche for Spanish-speaking RD’s!

Just a tip- you may want to mention the importance of grades and the difficulty of the classes. My school just changed Dietetics to a pre-professional program. This means that you can’t declare it as your major until you have X number of credits (including some chemistry) and then you must be ACCEPTED to the major according to GPA, leadership, etc.

A lot of girls (at least at my school) think- Dietetics…food…making people “healthy”…that sounds easy. WRONG! Dietetics is a VERY challenging major, and if you want any chance of getting an internship (with the current placement rate at 50%!!!) you must work extremely hard and be naturally a “science person.”

Just thought I’d throw my 2 cents in because I get SO many people coming up to me asking about the major because they are interested. As soon as I mention all of the Chemistry and upper-level science classes they say “I can’t do that!” Not that I don’t want people trying to if it’s what they love, I just think many don’t realize the difficulty-level of it. 🙂

Allison, thank you for this information and sharing! I really appreciate it! And, I completely agree. Chemistry and biochemistry had me in tears on several occasions! Thanks for commenting, and hope to see you around more! Good luck in completing your degree and all the best in our wonderful field!

I’m a RD!!! Way to pimp the profession and explain the profession and why a nutritionist is something different (requiring no schooling even and could even be a homeless alcoholic bum, ok that maybe a tad extreme, hmmm). Good job pointing out the correct spelling. I once pointed that out at a gym while the guy was unsuccessfully trying to sell RD time to someone in a dietetic internship, I don’t know why he kept trying to sell me on this, but I picked up his brochure and said, that’s nice, now can you spell it correctly. He swore it was correct so we walked over the dietitians door and sure enough I was right. Also, we used to get points taken off papers in undergrad if we spelled it wrong. The dictionary will show both spellings, but the ADA spelling is dietitian. I think we just like to confuse people. RD’s and future RD’s RULE!!!

I bet the job market for dietitions would grow even more int he next decade as movies and books like Food INC… etc become more popular. Almost everyone who has seen food inc has made some sort of change in their diet and I constantly hear at work that they want to see a dietition or nutritionist to help them with thier health issue… 🙂 You have a rewarding job 🙂

I would love love love to be a dietitian! Ive made inquiries about going back for my masters but trying to swing it with work right now is hard. So we’ll see. I love that you explained the difference between a nutritionist and a dietitian. I honestly wasn’t sure so it was great to have this info! Congrats on the award!!! I loved reading all those fabulous facts about yourself. I love 4 and 10 especially! I hope you are having an amazing day sweetie!

I’ve often thought about trying to become a dietitian because of my natural love for health and nutrition. I’m on my way to becoming a journalist, but I often think I’ll end up back at school for nutrition. We’ll see. And those job prospect statistics are quite well considering the job field and economy of today…but better than the outlook for prospective journalists!

hey thanks! my blog name is cheesy but i love it anyway ;). awesome that you’re pimping your profession, great info! i know so many dietitians who get really peeved when people call them nutritionists, and rightfully so!

I’m actually really interested in nutrition and always thought it would be “fun” to go back to school to study nutrition. I took a couple nutrition classes in college and really liked them. However, after grad school, I’m seriously burned out with school and being a student again would be a bit too much, at least at this time in my life. But who knows how I’ll feel in a few years… 😉

Great post! I also wanted to add that you CAN become an RD without a BS in dietetics. I received my BA in women’s studies, and am now finishing my MS at a CADE-accredited dietetics program. It takes a little longer than regular Masters degrees because I still have to take some undergraduate courses too to fulfill the DPD requirements, but if you have a Bachelors in something different I think it’s definitely worth checking out instead of a second Bachelors!

Haha, I’m guilty of spelling dietitian as dietician. 🙂
Thanks for this post! I’m not looking to be a RD, because I’m really not into those kind of scientific fields (I HATE science), but I do like to know about nutrition. Just enough without getting too deep into all the chemical and biology and stuff, of course.

Being an RD sounds really interesting! I’m not sure it’s necessarily for me though. I’m really into politics and policy related issues but I do love the idea of being able to work with individuals. But honestly I don’t know too much about it.

Sounds like you put a lot of work into getting where you are in your profession. It’s so great you like it and that you get fulfillment out of doing it–there is nothing better than helping people make good choices that could save their lives 🙂

Thank you SO much for the award, Nicole!! I loved your things…I, too, love a clean house. The smells…everything!

I would LOVE to go back and be an RD. Unfortunately, that would mean a lot of school (and the closest school that offers that program is over an hour away). But I do know that I need to be in a career where I’m helping people, PLUS I have such an interest in food/nutrition. So….until my next life, I will live through you. 🙂

When I was first applying to colleges, I thought about doing the dietitian route but got scared of all the science courses. And then somehow I ended up in nursing school which makes no sense, because… hello nothing but science courses!

I had the opportunity to work with a dietitian last year ’cause of some stuff I was dealing with. I learned so much more than I thought I all ready knew about health, balance and great eating habits. I was burning more than my intake……the good news was I was able to take in more healthy calories with him looking over my shoulder. We wanted to increase lean muscle mass while maintaining my all ready low body fat. I truly respect what you guys do!!!!

I love food and have spent a lot of time figuring out what makes me feel and perform my best, and I’ve made it my hobby to come up with interesting and ever-changing menus that fit those needs. I would love to help enlighten others on their journey, so yes, I could see myself as a dietitian. At the same time, I’d love to combine it with my love of fitness and teach others how to get the most out of their time in the gym.